Condoleezza Rice is scoring high points with US public as the new secretary of state but remains far less popular than her predecessor Colin Powell, according to a Gallup poll.(AFP/File/Brendan Smialowski)
Posted on 03/29/2005 5:07:34 PM PST by NormsRevenge
CAIRO (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has alarmed many reformist Arabs with comments suggesting a new U.S. approach that promotes rapid political change without regard for internal stability.
Rice said in an interview with the Washington Post last week the Middle East status quo was not stable and she doubted it would be stable soon. Washington would speak out for "freedom" without offering a model or knowing what the outcome would be.
"This a very dangerous scheme. Anarchy will be out of control," said Hassan Nafaa, a professor of political science at Cairo University and an advocate of gradual change.
A liberal Arab diplomat, who asked not to be named, said: "They seem to be supporting chaos and instability as a pretext for bringing democracy. But people would rather live under undemocratic rule than in the chaotic atmosphere of Iraq, for example, which the Americans tout as a model."
U.S. policy in the Middle East has traditionally given priority to the stability of cooperative governments such as those in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, while turning a blind eye to the way those governments treat their peoples.
Mohamed el-Sayed Said, a liberal who has challenged Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to his face over authoritarian government, said Arab societies were too fragile for the kind of rapid and unchecked change that Rice appears to welcome.
Apart from the danger of extremists coming to power, the Arab world would face the threat that societies and states could collapse completely, he told Reuters.
"We can hardly take the great risks that Dr Rice suggests. We are determined to keep domestic peace as well as external peace as far as we can, but not to the point of stifling change," added Said, who is deputy director of the al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.
"TOTALLY CAVALIER ATTITUDE"
The Bush administration has argued that political violence and hostility to the United States in the Middle East are the result of internal repression, rather than of U.S. policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the main Arab grievance.
That argument is at the core of President Bush's campaign for domestic political change in Arab countries, which has had a mixed reception even among Arab liberals.
His campaign has stimulated the debate on reform in the Middle East and emboldened some democrats to challenge governments which now appear to be on the defensive.
Rice's remarks went one step further, suggesting the United States was willing to take a gamble on "democratic institutions" having a "moderating influence" in the region.
"Can we be certain of that? No. But do I think there's a strong certainty that the Middle East was not going to stay stable anyway? Yes. And when you know that the status quo is no longer defensible, then you have to be willing to move in another direction," she said.
Helena Cobban, a writer on Middle East affairs based in the United States, said: "She (Rice) reveals a totally cavalier attitude to the whole non-trivial concept of social-political stability in Middle Eastern countries."
"So it looks as though Arc of Instability may now actually be the goal of U.S. policy, rather than its diagnosis of an existing problem," she added.
Mohamed el-Sayed Said said Rice's approach appeared to have links with a trend in right-wing Israeli thinking that favors destabilising Arab governments and societies.
"We see an emphasis on destruction and we see that Israel is willing to push Arab societies to the abyss without caring for stability. We suspect these ideas came from Israel," he added.
"COMPREHENSIVE REFORM"
Hala Mustafa, editor of the Egyptian quarterly publication Democracy Review, said reformers must have a clear agenda for where they want to go and that instant change would favor the Islamists, who dominate the political culture.
"If we start without any agenda, it will end in confusion ... We are talking about comprehensive reform that would lead to the change we need, not to turmoil or chaos," she added.
Rice, asked about the prospect of Islamist victories through reform, said that would not be desirable.
But she added: "It is really as opposed to what at this point? It isn't as if the status quo was stable the way that it was ... The only thing the United States can do is to speak out for the values that have been absent, liberty and freedom there, and it will have to take its own course."
Abdel Raouf El Reedy, a former Egyptian ambassador to the United States and chairman of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Relations, said the United States was overlooking its own responsibility to settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"If the United States wants to be credible, it has to be serious about ending the military occupation (of Palestinian territories) because this is generating resentment and anger and in this way helping the radical forces in the region," he said.
Condoleezza Rice is scoring high points with US public as the new secretary of state but remains far less popular than her predecessor Colin Powell, according to a Gallup poll.(AFP/File/Brendan Smialowski)
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Judge a man , and a woman too , by their successes, and not just their failures.
There's a poll about just about dang near everything these days.
"Washington would speak out for "freedom" without offering a model or knowing what the outcome would be."
"A liberal Arab diplomat, who asked not to be named, said: "They seem to be supporting chaos and instability as a pretext for bringing democracy. But people would rather live under undemocratic rule than in the chaotic atmosphere of Iraq, for example, which the Americans tout as a model." "
So is Iraq a model or not?
Reuters!
Disregard!
Dan
They have nothing to fear, as "Great order comes from great disorder", or something like that.
it's the boots they are scared of! ;-)
What the hell is a "reformist arab?"
One who gave up Jew-killing?
One who gave up lying?
One who gave up islam?
One who gave up 12 year old boys?
One who gave up beating the wife?
One who gave up jihad?
"We can hardly take the great risks that Dr Rice suggests. We are determined to keep domestic peace as well as external peace as far as we can, but not to the point of
accepting that Israel has a legitimate right to exist.
What does "gradual change" mean in Egypt? More presidents for life, more attacks on the Copts, more training up of school children to hate us, more mixing of Islam with Communism in those hateful brews that Egypt is so good at producing?
No, thanks.
..."...people would rather live under undemocratic rule than in the chaotic atmosphere of Iraq..."...
That comment alone shows a lack of responsibility. I didn't even read the rest of the article yet.
The "experts," of course, did not think so, even disregarding the vested interest in the status quo that made them "experts." But one looks in vain for any sign of that measured, planned progress that the "experts" kept talking about but never seemed to accomplish.
Chaos for the sake of chaos is simply destructive, but so is order for the sake of order. What is to be sought is that middle course that best advances the cause of human welfare.
The status quo is what brought us 9/11. The Mideast is dysfunctional, and I'm glad we have a president that has taken proactive measures to try and improve the Mideast. This is a good deed for its own sake and for our long term security.
She's kickin' butt and takin' names!!
"If your policy proves to be folly, make folly your policy."
It's nice to think so but they seem to have hit a road block...Their newly elected gov't can't seem to agree on anything...
I'm assuming the instability they're referring to is exactly that...These people aren't so inclined to live peacabally with each other...They will kill each other to gain control...With the US demanding democracy, they have total chaos...Even the leaders don't want democracy...
They do however, want peace...And they know how to get peace...You kill everyone who disagrees with you...That's stability, for them...
If it's not out of control, it's not living up to its name.
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